Auburn Football: Previewing the Tigers Offense for the 2026 Season

The Auburn Tigers are now under a new regime led by head coach Alex Golesh. He brought his offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Joel Gordon with him from South Florida. These two have the task of turning around the Auburn offense that has been less than stellar for the last five years in the college football world. They have a track record of doing so at their previous stops, paired with players they think can make the jump from the American conference to the SEC, and some interesting returning players who stuck through the regime change.

How will the Tigers offense look in 2026? Let’s dive in.

Auburn Football: Previewing the Tigers Offense

Golesh and Gordon History

Alex Golesh started his coaching career at Ohio State as a student assistant. Following that, he was a graduate assistant at Northern Illinois and Oklahoma State. He then became a tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator (mainly) at Toledo, Illinois and Iowa State. Then he met Josh Heupel, and became co-offensive coordinator at UCF. He followed Heupel to Tennessee and helped completely turn around Tennessee’s offense.

Prior to Golesh (and Heupel), Tennessee was ranked 108th in Total Offense. In 2021, Golesh’s first year as offensive coordinator, the Vols rose to No. 7 nationally, followed by the rise as the No. 1 overall offense in 2022. Golesh then took the job to become USF’s head coach. He helped the Bulls go from a team that won four games in the previous three years combined, to a team that had three straight winning seasons.

Golesh’s record at USF by year was 7-6, 7-6, and 9-3. During his first year, USF had their biggest bowl victory in school history beating Syracuse 45-0. In 2024, starting quarterback Byrum Brown was hurt, limiting the ceiling of that team. However, they still finished with a winning record. In the 2025 regular season, the USF offense ranked No. 2 nationally in total offense (501.7), No. 5 in scoring (43.0) and posted 500-plus yards in eight of its last nine games. The Bulls also boasted the top recruiting class in the conference in 2024 and 2025. Golesh knows offense and can recruit, two things that the Auburn football program needs.

Turning to Joel Gordon, his career took off at Iowa State where he started as an offensive analyst. This is where he met Golesh when their paths crossed from 2016-2019. His stamp of significance was coaching Brock Purdy who is now starting for the San Francisco 49ers and widely regarded as a steal in the NFL draft. He then joined Golesh at USF and helped Byrum Brown amass over 7000 passing yards and 2000 rushing yards in his career. Gordon has proven he knows quarterback play, and can get the best out of the position, another thing Auburn fans are starving for.

Key Transfers From USF

With new regimes come new players, and the change to Auburn for Alex Golesh and company is not any different. There has been a lot made about the USF players that have transferred over, with some exaggeration. A total of 13 players transferred from USF with 11 of them being on offense (39 total players transferred and 15 of those were from P4 conferences). The key transfers from USF are Byrum Brown, Cole Best, Keshaun Singleton, Jeremiah Koger and Chas Nimrod. Singleton, Koger, and Nimrod are important, because they are replacing the Freeze Four players who transferred out of Auburn.

In 2025, the USF trio totaled 1940 yards on 111 catches (Koger played in nine games and Nimrod only played in six games before getting hurt). Meanwhile, Auburn’s top four receivers totaled 1853 yards on 156 catches in 2025. The biggest question is can these players handle the physicality and speed of playing in the SEC every single week? They are going to have to; but Golesh would not have brought them with him if he didn’t believe in them. He will be able to scheme them to success, but they will have to compete.

Cole Best has been USF’s starting center for 20 games while also starting three games at guard. He played in 39 games for the Bulls. All of this is important because Auburn’s projected starting five for the offensive line is all transfers. The Tigers’ offensive line struggled last year, but that wasn’t because a lack of talent. Auburn needs a leader on the offensive line, and Best is that leader. He knows the scheme and knows the quarterback, which makes him an easy pick.

Finally, the likely most important transfer from USF, is Byrum Brown. Auburn’s quarterback play has been less than stellar the last two or three seasons, filled with questionable decision-making, turnovers, and a lack of confidence. This has led to the misuse of talent across the board. That should be fixed this year, and Auburn desperately needs good quarterback play this season.

Brown is one of 12 players in college football history to have thrown for 3000 yards and rushed for 1000 yards in the same season. He almost did it twice, too. And while some believe it was just production against the G6, Brown threw for 263 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions, while adding 66 yards on the ground in a game where the Bulls upset the Florida Gators. Brown has shown he can compete against SEC talent. Auburn fans should be excited that Brown actually shows leadership qualities from the most important position.

Key Returning Tigers

On a team that went 5-7 for two straight years, it is hard to make an argument that any players are key returners. However, Auburn’s losses were not due to a lack of talent as mentioned previously. Offensively, the Tigers lost a lot of talent to the transfer portal. Yet, there are still key retentions including Jeremiah Cobb, Kail Ellis, and Omar Mabson. Cobb is vitally important to this year, while Ellis and Mabson yield a look to the future.

Cobb was sixth in the SEC in rushing last season. He ended the year with 969 yards and five touchdowns. Golesh has said that he plans to run the football a lot, and having an elite SEC back is going to be key for that. Cobb is a workhorse back and looks to (potentially) finish out his career with a bang. The two areas he will need to improve on, however, are pass-catching and blocking. However, Golesh has not typically used a single running back in the receiving game. Most of Golesh’s running backs have had between 12 and 20 receptions individually, but the total receptions has been higher as a group. Cobb will need to find a way to break this mold.

If Auburn is going to run as much as Golesh says, they will need more than one capable running back. All reports out of camp are that Omar Mabson has stepped up. Mabson is incredibly young, yet it’s already being reported that he may be the best pass-blocking back by far. If Omar grows into his potential, he can be the next great Auburn running back.

Kail Ellis is the final key returning piece. He also played as a 17-year-old freshman, but on the offensive line. Players don’t usually get that type of playing time on the offensive line, but Kail is special. He will likely be the backup center this year behind Cole Best, but he has the talent to fill in when necessary. The hope is he will also get playing time at guard to help fill in depth on a team that needs offensive line depth.

Obviously going into a new regime brings lots of change. The new coaches, the new players, and returning players will have to learn each other on offense. If they can do this well, and Brown is provided enough time by his offensive line, then Auburn should see drastic improvements in 2026.